Swipe down doesnt work for me, it just keeps pulling down notifications. This is on an ipad mini 4,do you have to do it from a particular place (above control centre does not work).
The behaviour is different on iPad vs iPhones. I think the previous responses refer to phones but you’re talking about iPads.
You’re right, swipe down doesn’t work. Apple differentiates between swipes down from anywhere on the screen (Eg for search, from the home screen) and swipes from above down onto the screen (notification centre). I agree that a swipe down from anywhere on the screen should close the control centre and take you back to the app you came from, that would seem logical as it’s the reverse of swiping up to open it – which is what iPhones do.
If you’ve opened up the control Centre / multitasking then you can either press the home button, or the app tile, or the app icon (if it’s in the dock) to take you back to where you were. There are plenty of options.